A few weeks ago, I was on the internet and saw something about what it means when you find a white feather. Because I never see white birds (other than Seagulls at the beach), I thought the chances of coming across a white feather seemed slim, so I didn’t pay much attention to it. I quickly forgot about it and…

There’s a one-word question people often ask that rarely elicits a concise answer—that question is: Why? Have you ever asked your teen why they did something they shouldn’t have or didn’t do something they were supposed to do? If so, chances are that the answer you received was, “I dunno.”  Your first instinct may tell you that they’re being a…

I love a good quote, especially when the author of the quote used a quill to write it. What constitutes a “good” quote? Well, for me, it’s one that not only rings true but also gets me thinking—recently, I came across this one that checks both boxes: Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image. Johann Wolfgang von…

I recently went through the camera roll on my phone to do a bit of cleanup. You never realize how many useless and nearly identical photos you have until you look at each one to decide whether to keep or delete it. The number of screenshots of ads for shows and movies I thought I might like to watch soon…

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake dolls. I’d save up my weekly allowance, and when I had enough saved, my mom would take me to the local toy store, where I would buy one of the dolls. The dolls had cute names like Strawberry Shortcake, Apple Dumpling (a baby), Blueberry Muffin, and Huckleberry Pie. On…

It was the end of the eighth-grade school year. I stood in the garage in tears, pleading with my dad while he folded his laundry. Before that day, he’d agreed to let me go on a three-week vacation to Iowa with my best friend and her family. I know, I know—Iowa—for vacation? When you’re fourteen, and your friends invite you…

Recently, I saw a question posted on Facebook that went something like this: When you were a kid, what was something other families had that made you think they were rich? When I was young, I believed that anyone with a two-story house was loaded, and I always got super-excited if I was invited to stay over with someone who…

The day my mom died was the day I stopped believing in God, heaven, and the other nonsense to which so many of my friends subscribed. I was of the opinion that there were only two types of people—the living and the dead. When someone died, that was it. They didn’t go to a better place or become reincarnated. They…

In book clubs and reading circles, there’s a thing people sometimes must admit to, and it’s called “DNF.” This admission often comes with feelings of guilt and shame. I’ve DNF’d many times, and the first few times I did it, I didn’t want to confess my sin simply because I don’t like the stigma of being a quitter. So, for…